Abstract Expressionism "Action Painting" this style uses vigorous brushstrokes, dripping and spilling paint onto the canvas. This movement took place in the 1940s through 1950s. Some of the key artists are: Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Franz Kline, Harold Shapinsky, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Cy Twombly, Ann Ryan, Ad Reinhardt
Art Deco Found in many different mediums, this style combined modern beauty with excellent craftsmanship and rich materials. Art Deco can be seen in architecture, design, clothing, jewelry, furniture and handicrafts. It began in France before the First World War and continued into the 1940s with its high point being in 1925. Key artists for this style include: Tamara de Lempicka, Cassandre, Rene Buthaud, Raphael Delorme, Jean Gabriel Domergue, Jean Dupas, Paul Poiret, Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy, Hector Guimard, Pierre Chareau, Francis Jourdain, Eugene Grasset
High Renaissance This style was produced in the Italian states (Rome and Florence mostly) and began in 1490. Artists created beautiful, realistic artwork that used light to highlight their subjects and surroundings.
Bauhaus Teachers and students were dedicated to a mass production of art with attention to individual vision designing and crafting pieces to combine beauty with function and usefulness. Key artists include: Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and László Moholy-Nagy
Cubism Cubism is one of the most important art styles of the 1900s. It broke away from trying to create the illusion of three-dimensional space from one viewpoint on a flat canvas. Cubism emphasized the 2-D nature of their work and used shadows and highlight in a different way. The artists showed different points of view at the same time in the same space. Key artists include: Lyubov Popova, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernanad Leger and Alexander Archipenko
Expressionism Expressionism flourished between 1905 and 1920 with Germany and Austria being highly important to the movement. Artists wanted to express the meaning of emotional experience instead of the physical reality. The style includes distortion, exaggeration, fantasy and vivid, jarring, dynamic use of color in order to express the artist's feelings or ideas. Key artists include: Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Surrealism Started by Andre Breton in Paris in 1924, Surrealism continued through the Second World War. The goal of Surrealist artists was to free thought, language and human experience from rationalism. Key artists include: André Breton, Salvador Dalí, André Masson, Rene Magritte, Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Meret Oppenheim, Jean Arp, Man Ray, Wifredo Lam